Give Me A Leonard Cohen Afterworld So I Can Sigh Eternally

Do you know Leonard Cohen? Have you ever heard his music? He is HUGE in Scandinavia. Bigger than the Beatles. In Europe he plays giant soccer arenas. Over here, he is still relegated to cult status (even though he is Canadian) though the concert I went to last Tuesday at the Academy of Music here in Philly was rightfully sold out. In my mind, he is up there with Dylan, Bowie, Tom Waits, Garcia/Hunter, Lennon/McCartney - one of the very very best songsmiths of all time. Leonard's world is dark and boozy, filled with exotic women, infidelity, and broken dreams - yet through it all he carries his senses of dignity, elegance, and humor intact. Like Rainer Maria Rilke would say, "It's important not to get lost in his world" - but Leonard is so seductive that he takes you right in, sits you down with a glass of whatever you're having, and takes you on a tour of the dark places that is ultimately redemptive.

The concert was one of the very best I've ever seen. Quick list - Top 5 concerts ever:

1) The Kinks 1988, Beacon Theater, NYC - 9 encores
2) Leonard Cohen, 2009, Academy of Music, Phila, PA
3) David Bowie, 1997, Electric Factory, Phila, PA
4) Bob Dylan, 2001, UC-Santa Barbara, CA
5) Tom Waits, 2000, Beacon Theater, NYC

Honorable mention to Grateful Dead, 1992 - Deer Creek, IN and Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, 1988, The Ritz, NYC.

Anyway. This blog is not Facebook. Sorry :-) My name is Chris and I am addicted to Facebook quizzes. "Hi Chris"

So Leonard's band was incredible. I highly recommend all of his awesome musicians especially:

Javier Mas - 12 string guitar, bandurria - www.myspace.com/maodeoro

Webb Sisters - backing vox, harp - www.thewebbsisters.com

Dino Soldo - various woodwinds - www.dinosoldo.com

One of the highlights of the show was LC whipping out this keyboard and having it play almost all the backing while he sang "Tower of Song". You have to have the funk WAY down in your soul to pull this off...it is still my favorite song from the night - and for those of you who want to listen - you can download the "Live In London" CD from iTunes for $14.99 which is a bargain compared to the hours of deep, dark, blissful pleasure you will gain from all the jewels within. Or go check me out on blip.fm/chrishuff while I blip Leonard Cohen songs until the sun rises....

The title of today's blog is from Nirvana's "Pennyroyal Tea" in case that washed over you. Another great song, albeit a little creepy in light of Kurt's demise (as the flowers in the Unplugged make it A LOT creepy)...still such a great line capturing the essence of Leonard's otherworldly, ethereal song presence....

Big shout out to the newest member of the Huffmusic team - Amy D from www.mamaslittlemonkeys.com - she is providing a much needed spark to my online promotions/marketing, and we are so lucky to have her! Also, a huge thank you to Christina who has been managing my Twitter followers/followings while she attends college full-time and works 2 jobs. Yes, I am the Tweeter but she probably added you.

I am working tonight on creating content as we 21st century artists say. New Chris Huff Studio soon. All sorts of great things are in the works. Let me hear you say "Hoa!" l